It would be even better if such societies came to an awareness of the value of women, not as pets to keep and command, but as educated professionals, leaders, lawyers, doctors, etc, along with a movement toward secular society even while oil brought them the wealth that would help fund such a radical change.

How is that going to happen though? Is there anything we can do or refrain from doing to make it happen, or is our intervention always going to make things worse? What if toning down the rhetoric against Iran and upping the criticism of Israel bought the west a new credibility in the region? Would the development of such Arab society be worth sacrificing other interests in the region? Is it even in the best interest of the US and Israel and perhaps other western countries to have a stable peaceful rich middle east to deal with?